Evolving market demands have forced businesses to shorten timelines for completing projects and delivering products. As a result, companies have begun to tap low-code solutions to tighten work cycles and raise their business value for the long haul.
As the name implies, low-code platform solutions provide organizations with tools they can use to develop and deploy customized applications with little or no coding. Compared to traditional software development that involves line-by-line coding, low-code solutions feature a visual interface with pre-built modules and drag-and-drop editors. These components make it quick and easy to make changes during and after the app’s development, so they can suit the unique needs of your company. Moreover, you and your team can tweak the app as your business scales.
Benefits of using a low-code solution
Low-code tools positively impact businesses in the following ways:
1. Empower non-IT staff
Most low-code development platforms need little to zero coding experience, allowing line of business staff to create apps according to their requirements. However, assistance from those with programming knowledge may be required when fine-tuning controls or functionalities.
2. Give more value for your money
The subscription fees involved in paying for access to development platforms is lower than the cost of hiring developers or designing apps from scratch.
3. Shorten the development cycle for apps
The pre-built frameworks that low-code platform solutions offer hasten app development. This frees up your developers' time for tasks that are more crucial to your growth strategy.
4. Help streamline operations
Low-code improves the synergy among front, middle and back office functions:
- Back office - Low-code tools can automate manual and merge disconnected tasks under legacy systems.
- Middle office - Low-code business solutions enable the resulting app to easily integrate with your main platforms (such as task management and customer relations software). This integration can boost internal communication and productivity.
- Front office: Low-code platforms allow developers and business users to collaborate, resulting in apps that are tailor-fitted to improve workforce and customer experience on multiple channels or devices.
How to leverage low-code solutions for your business
Taking the following steps can enable your low-code platform solution to enhance your competitive edge:
1. Review your current digital assets
Evaluate how your current systems are fulfilling your business needs from developing responsive end-user experiences to capturing data needed for growth insights. You can also use analytics to uncover the pain points and bottlenecks in your business operations.
Here are some areas are worth looking into:
- Granting approvals and exceptions (example: Completing purchase requests)
- Collecting data from users, apps, or third-party systems and acting on them (example: Uploading bank statement information from an email to one's enterprise resource planning platform.)
- Gathering insights from raw data (example: Detecting outliers or even fake reviews among product reviews from multiple websites)
2. Identify your technological gaps
List down the data requirements and new applications that you couldn't currently source or develop, whatever the reason—unavailable or inadequate IT skills, limitations of existing app development tools, inefficient workflow, or budget constraints.
3. Include business users in the development process
Your company's internal users are the so-called experts in the workflows of their respective departments. Thus, their ideas and input are necessary for ensuring the success of apps in live environments.
4. Apply low-code development to address these gaps
Find out how you can build an app to solve your data sourcing and productivity needs using low-code technology. Then prototype and test the app, which can sit on top of legacy applications or allow data migration from the old to the new app for more efficient work operations.
The popularity of low-code continues to soar and this technology is expected to power 70% of new applications by 2025.
Applications you can build using low-code
Low-code business solutions are versatile. You can use them to build a variety of apps from simple tools for your one-off projects to more complex ones, which you can integrate with existing business processes and access from different devices.
Some of the most common types of products generated using low-code development include the following:
1. New employee onboarding app
This type of app can improve the processing of personal information of new hires, orienting them about workflows, and conducting assessments.
2. New customer onboarding app
Reduce client abandonment and boost lead capture with an app that can virtually welcome new visitors and buyers to your business. Customer onboarding apps with self-service features can gather information about your clients while at the same time giving them more details about your services and offers.
Energy distribution and banking firms as well as clinics and hospitals can produce similar functioning apps to care for their clients’ or patients’ needs.
3. Performance measurement app
You can build an app where you can set targets for your team or entire workforce, view their productivity, ask for and gather feedback, as well as recognize staff for their jobs well done.
4. Updating or automating legacy systems
You and your team can use low-code tools to modernize either parts of your legacy IT infrastructure or all of it to cover your entire enterprise. You can update in phases or build an app to replace whole workflows with new processes.
5. Field inspection app
Apps can help construction, real estate, mining, and other industries keep tabs on occupational health and safety and the status of properties, equipment, work venues, and tasks anytime, anywhere.
How Kissflow can help you reach your low-code goals
Kissflow empowers you and your company to develop business apps fast with Kissflow Low-Code. It's packed with features that result in:
- Fewer glitches due to the pre-tested codes and modules of its Application Builder. Better user experience, thanks to its Custom User Interface, which equips you to customize the look and functions of your app.
- Faster delivery leading to higher productivity as a result of its Developer Sandbox, which allows simultaneous testing of developers and end-users.
- Better process management through its Extensive Integrations with your core utility system for easier and more efficient coordination among departments.
- Lower development spending as a consequence of prompt Application Deployment amid early prototype validation and modification.
Discover the beauty and power of building customized apps with Kissflow
Fast-track your company's digital transformation with Kissflow Low-Code. You can learn more about it by downloading our free Starter Guide or scheduling a demo with us today.
